Before we tear down, we take Note of these 10+ 5G specs:

6.8" AMOLED Infinity-O display with 3040 × 1440 resolution (498 ppi), HDR10+ certified

Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 paired with 12 GB RAM and 256 GB internal storage

4,300 mAh battery

Four rear-facing cameras (16 MP ultra-wide, 12 MP wide-angle with OIS, 12 MP telephoto with OIS, VGA DepthVision camera), plus a 10 MP selfie cam

Ultrasonic in-screen fingerprint sensor

S Pen stylus with Bluetooth connectivity and 6-axis sensor

IP68 dust and water resistance rating

We lay out (from left to right) last year's Note9 next to the new Note10+ and Note10+ 5G and try to spot the differences.

This year Samsung realigned the Note's cameras vertically. They also got rid of the rear fingerprint sensor—that's been moved under the display, like what we saw earlier this year.

At last, we're forced to mourn the loss of the headphone jack—supposedly a necessary tradeoff for a larger battery and improved haptic feedback.

Before we get any further, Creative Electron gives us a peek at some interesting internals—looks like we've got some fun exploration ahead.

Out comes the star of this show: the magic wand new and improved S Pen.

Cameras on all the newest Notes are vertically aligned, but the 10+ includes a fancy new feature alongside that stack of sensors.

Annnnd we're off! The delightful duo Heat and Pick get under the back cover without breaking a sweat (although the same may not be said for their wielders). It's almost like they do this every day.

As we slice away at the adhesive, we notice that, this year, the cover is contoured around the volume and Bixby power buttons—not quite the change to the opening procedure we hoped for.

A few Phillips screws hold down the midframe assembly—nothing our tried-and-true Mako 64 bit kit can't handle!

With the midframe removed, we encounter a somewhat radical change: the motherboard is solely at the top of the device, Pixel-style.

At least the cables are on top, rather than under a battery and primed for pry damage. So far, Apple's interlocking "L" shapes seem to be the best use of space we've seen...

Our trusty iSclack works so well on heavily-glued displays that we decide to try it on this glued-down battery.

The iSclack gives us some solid leverage on the battery, but it still takes a lot of isopropyl alcohol—and even more patience—before the adhesive surrenders the battery (beware those display cables!).

If we called the Note9's 15.4 Wh battery "ludicrous," the Note 10+'s 16.56 Wh powerhouse must be "plaid."

This energy bar weighs in at 59.1 g and measures 77.3 mm x 58.4 mm x 5.5 mm. That's 4.4 g heavier and 3 cm³ larger than the Note9's battery.

We jettison the SIM + microSD tray—a luxury that the smaller 6.3" Note10 has traded away—and release the motherboard.

Along for the ride are this Note's five cameras:

16 MP ultra-wide (123° FoV)

12 MP wide-angle with dual aperture (ƒ/1.5-ƒ/2.4)

12 MP telephoto (2x optical zoom)

DepthVision time-of-flight infrared illuminator and sensor

10 MP selfie cam

Although relieved of its many cameras, this board still feels like it's carrying some extra weight.

We pry off this mysterious green rectangle—which turns out to be a Qualcomm QTM052 mmWave antenna module.

And one more thing: more board! Looks like Samsung took a note out of Apple's playbook and stacked their motherboard for maximum space savings.

We've been down this road before—and with a little help from our hot air station, we quickly carve through the vias and separate the boards.

Let's open this silicon sandwich and see what lies inside:

12 GB Samsung K3UHAHA LPDDR4X RAM layered over Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC

256 GB Samsung KLUEG8UHDB eUFS 3.0 flash storage

Qualcomm X50 5G modem

NXP 80T17 NFC controller

ON Semiconductor NCP59744 voltage regulator

Cirrus Logic CS35L40 audio amplifiers

Maxim MAX77705C PMIC

Even more silicon filling:

Avago AFEM-9106

Skyworks 78160 front end module

Qualcomm SDR8150 (likely RF transceiver)

WACOM W9020

IDT R9320S 1918DS SL-3YA 244106

Qualcomm QET5100 envelope tracker

Skyworks 77365 power amplifier

And just a little more:

Murata 1RH KM9515099 Wi-Fi/Bluetooth module

Qualcomm QDM3870 LTE RF FEM

Skyworks 13716-11 front-end module

Qualcomm WCD9341 Aqstic audio codec

Qualcomm PMX50 PMIC for the X50 modem

Qualcomm PM8150, PM8150C, and PM8005 (likely PMICs)

S2D0S05 608B58 (likely a PMIC)

The daughterboard comes out without a fuss, bringing the soldered-on USB-C port and lower microphone in tow.

We frisk the edges of the phone to find ... two more mmWave antenna modules! Given 5G mmWave's limitations, having these directional, beam-forming antennas on each side (plus the third one facing the screen) helps the Note10+ achieve maximum effort.

The earpiece speaker looks pretty ordinary, except that it's completely trapped behind the screen. How do the songs get out? More on that later...

Just a couple components separate this phone from emptiness:

First, a square-ish vibration motor! For as long as we can remember, Samsung has employed the same circular LRA motor for all its phones' buzzers.

Or, hear us out—maybe they just needed something to take up a little more room where the headphone jack once was.

Finally, we pull out the new vapor chamber—no doubt the product of countless hours of engineering, since this phone is essentially a space heater with a battery. 5G tech and reverse-wireless charging don't come cheap in the cooling department.

After some tedious behind-the-scenes heating and prying, we are rewarded with a peek at the backside of this Samsung-made 6.8” Dynamic AMOLED Infinity-O display.

The ultrasonic fingerprint sensor clings to the back of this behemoth display, just as it did to the S10 we tore down not too long ago.

With the screen removed, we see that the earpiece speaker actually fires into a shallow metal chamber, which channels the sound waves into the teeny tiny grille along the top edge of the frame.

Can't quite make it out? We couldn't either. Computer, zoom and enhance.

Our teardown eyes ( x)( x) shift towards the S Pen. The seamless construction makes us reluctant to pry it open, so we get creative with some electrons, courtesy of Creative Electron.

Though, now that we think about it, this pen does have a few new features ... it's probably totally different from last year's on the inside ... oh heck, you know we couldn't resist. Ultrasonic cutter, meet S Pen.

The guts of the new S Pen are encased in an extra layer of hard plastic and epoxy. Chipping those away, we find:

A mystery chip marked SP912, likely the 6-axis sensor Samsung mentioned at their Unpacked event. Something's gotta be detecting those wand waves.

Dialog DA14585 Bluetooth 5 SoC

Nichicon 2.4v SLB lithium-ion battery

Well, we don't know about you guys, but we sure learned a heck of a lot from these bits—were you taking notes?

We saw a 5G millimeter wave antenna for the first time.

We de-layered Samsung's first "iPhone X" style board.

We solved the mystery of the missing earpiece speaker grille.

We even removed the stubborn battery without busting the display.

We'll call this teardown a win, but we can't say we're the biggest fans of this Note, and we have a feeling the repairability score will bear that out...